APOLLO-SOYUZ TEST
PROJECT:
JOINT MISSION IN SPACE

In
July 1975 two manned spacecraft were launched into Earth orbit--one
from Kazakstan, the other from Florida. Their rendezvous in orbit
fulfilled a 1972 agreement between the Soviet Union and the United
States to participate in a joint venture in space.

The
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project marked a brief thaw in the Cold War and
the first time that the two rivals cooperated in a manned space mission.
Engineering teams from both sides collaborated in the development
of a docking module to link the spacecraft. Control centers in Moscow
and Houston exercised joint duties through a cooperative exchange
of tracking data and communications. The crews visited each other's
spacecraft, shared meals, and worked on various tasks during several
days together in space.

Apollo
commander Thomas P. Stafford (right) and Soyuz-19 commander Aleksei
A. Leonov (left) greet each other for the first time in space with
a handshake. This mission was meant to symbolize the end of competition
and the beginning of an era of cooperation in space.